Counter space is more of a premium than people power. It only takes a couple of minutes to chuck the stuff in and turn it on. It could be kept under the counter (hand sink?) when not in use. The night manager could stick it on to be done for the morning, perhaps. Imagine coming in at 10am to the smell of bread.

Sorry to be ever the bubble-buster but the bread made in these things has a cavity in the centre where the kneader is, which is fine at home but you can't really sell the middle pieces of the loaf. Think how much will get chucked when no body will even eat the bread ends. Plus, running at the capacity we'd need it to, it'd never last especially as this is a pretty cheap model. I only ever eat bread from my Russel and Hobbes(C) breadmaster(TM) funkomatic(R), but it's not really suitable for industrial use. Home batch baking in the oven would be more feasible. They are pretty damn energy efficient though, for electric contraptions.

I've got one, so I know all about the hole in the middle. I can't think it would be unapetising, like the ends of the current bread are to some people.

It does make just one at a time. I don't know what the mimimum baking time is - on my model it is 1 hour 55. But the Aldi model will make big loaves, so we might only need 1 per day.

I know it isn't such a big brand. The one I have is a top of the range thing that cost abot 100 pounds 3 years ago. But I would be disappointed if the Aldi one didn't make a loaf a day for a good while.

I won't be in Edinburgh Sunday, but the nearest Aldi is here. The 30 bus is what I would take from Newington - make sure it doesn't terminate at Newcraighall, or you will have a bit of a walk into Mussleburgh.

These things sell out quickly - when I wanted a raclette grill from Lidl, they had sold out in an hour and I had to go all the way to Gorgie. That is a lesson for anyone.

Someone must be at a loose end tomorrow morning, or up from the night before having drunk too much raspberry lemonade.

It's not that a hole would be unappetising, but if it's big, will we need to give them three pieces of beans on toast? Two slices for soup?

We would probably need a couple of loaves/day. It might actually be less waste than the way we do it now, as I'd hate to imagine just how much moldy bread has been thrown out over the years... The amount of bread we use can vary quite a lot from week to week, but our bread order is always the same unless a day is cancelled because we're getting backed up.

I don't think it will be a big hole. Especially given the thickness of the slices we produce. We wouldn't need an extra slice to compensate.

We pay over a pound per loaf just now. Organic flour is about a pound for 1.5kg. Yeast is about 10p per loaf - less if we use enough to buy tins instead of sachets. Throw in some seeds and it is less than half what we pay.